Japan's reserves hit record £362.4bn

Tuesday 7 October 2003 17:56 BST

JAPAN'S official reserves totalled a record $604.9bn (£362.4bn) at the end of September, up $49.8bn from a month earlier, driven by a 4.46 trillion yen (24bn) intervention in currency markets to slow the rise of the yen, the Ministry of Finance said on Tuesday.